


5, 6, 7, 8

by az49



Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, Alternate Universe - Middle School, F/F, Tags will be updated as we go along
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-17 01:15:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29833803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/az49/pseuds/az49
Summary: “I said I love you. It physically hurts to breathe sometimes because when you’re around my lungs take in fluttery feelings instead of oxygen and, oh my god, I am so fucking in love with you. I close my eyes, I see you. It makes the darkness bearable. In silence, I hear your laugh. The fucking annoying, high-pitched laugh that’s music to my ears. I’m trying not to, I really am. But, god, you make it so easy to fall in love with you and I’m not that strong not to.”Silence, with heavy breathing echoing in the locker room.And then, “No, no, no. You can’t love me, not like that.”—A childhood friends to lovers trope, the ‘it’s you, it’s always been you’ trope, the requited-love-but-they’re-idiots trope, because I badly want fluff in slow burn that's minayeon.
Relationships: Im Nayeon/Myoui Mina
Comments: 32
Kudos: 93





	1. It's time to begin

**Author's Note:**

> this won't be heavy! enjoy.

Moving houses was something Mina doesn’t remember clearly. Meeting Nayeon, however, was a memory tattooed to the back of her eyelids. It went like this:

Eleven-year-old Mina was grumpy. The five-hour drive in the moving truck with road bumps at almost every intersection added to the crankiness that was mainly caused by her lack of sleep. She made a show of stomping her small foot on the cemented floor, which hardly made a sound.

Rubber slippers against a thick slab of cement didn’t make for a good echo on her tantrum. It only made her mother smile, a smile which was reassuring and patient. A smile that would automatically make Mina smile back – well, in situations that she wasn’t angry, anyway.

“We’re going to be busy, love. Go outside and play out while we settle in. I saw some kids down the street. Maybe you can make new friends here?” Her mother ended with a small hum, making Mina even madder.

She didn’t want to go outside, she didn’t want to approach the kids playing, she saw them too- and they were scary. When their moving truck passed by earlier, it seemed like it was a 5 vs 1 fight, and Mina would rather sulk at their front door than go near the kids down the block.

The strained smile and small twitch at the corner of her mother’s eye was enough for Mina to swallow the protest bubbling in her throat. Okay, never mind. Entering an uneven playing field with the kids outside would be better than getting on her mother’s bad side. 

When Mina angrily stomped her way to the end of the street, the kids were already skipping down the poorly drawn chalk squares on the pavement. Before Mina could introduce herself to the group, she heard sniffles. Looking around for the source, Mina found a girl crouching on the sidewalk glaring angrily at the kids playing. The sight would have been scary, Mina mused, if: one, the girl didn’t have snot running down her nose, and two, if the girl wasn’t glaring with her two front teeth looking adorably like Bugs Bunny. Not that intimidating, maybe Mina could make a friend out of the crying girl.

“Why are you crying?” Mina asked, approaching the girl. She stopped a good foot away. After all, there was snot running down her face and snot meant germs and Mina didn’t like germs. A foot worth of distance would have to make do, she just had to make her voice a little louder.

“What?” The girl shifted her glare from the kids playing to Mina, and although Mina was normally shy around strangers, the leftover anger she had earlier was enough for her not to back down.

“You’re crying.” Mina pointed to the girls face, “Really ugly too because stuff is coming out of your nose. I’m asking why.”

Mina expected some kind of rebuttal in a form of a shout or maybe a pebble thrown on her way. She saw enough recess fights in her previous school to have an idea how these things went. She didn’t expect the crying girl to stand up and blow out her nose right in front of her. Germs!

Mina let out an ugly shriek and she threw the teddy bear that she was holding – which she even forgot she was holding in the first place – to the girl in front of her. “Gross!”

The girl let out a loud, loud laugh. It went long enough for her sniffles to be gone entirely, and Mina would have stomped back to her own house in annoyance, but her teddy bear was still in the hands of the laughing girl. Decisions, decisions.

“That’s for calling me ugly.” The girl calmed down, her loud laugh settling into a big smile. “I’m keeping this teddy bear in exchange for my friendship. What’s his name?” The girl plopped back onto the sidewalk. She patted the space beside her, eyeing Mina to sit down as well. “I’m Nayeon.” Nayeon extended her hand to Mina; did eleven-year-olds in this part of the city do handshakes? Weird.

Mina felt for the handkerchief in her pocket – a piece that she always had with her because her father never allowed her to leave the house without one – balled it up and threw it to Nayeon’s face. It hit her nose spot-on. “Wipe your face. Your hands too. You’re so gross.” Mina took the spot beside Nayeon, and when Nayeon was finished wiping her face, “Keep the handkerchief. I’m Mina. The teddy doesn’t have a name yet, and he’s mine. Gimme that!”

Mina lunged for the teddy bear but Nayeon, Mina learned, was nothing short of competitive. The game of push and pull ended when Mina made the mistake of kneeling on Nayeon’s left leg, making Nayeon shout in pain. When Mina got off her, the girl was crying, _again_.

“What happened? Please don’t cry, you can have unnamed teddy if you stop crying.” Mina said, trying to console the girl who was cradling her knee. It didn’t have any bruise, and there wasn’t any brace or cast, so Mina wasn’t sure what happened. She resorted to waving the teddy bear in front of Nayeon’s face to catch her attention.

“Bad leg. Wait, gimme a minute to cry.” Nayeon said, grabbing the teddy bear hovering at her face and using it to slap Mina’s shoulder, playfully.

“You’re such a crybaby. Why’d you cry earlier, anyway?” Mina asked, settling beside Nayeon again, this time, closer. Close enough for Nayeon to lean her head on Mina’s shoulder while she was busy massaging her knee.

Mina’s comment was enough for Nayeon to throw the teddy bear to Mina’s face, and Mina would have retaliated but Nayeon was still at the end of her latest cry and crying that much in one day wasn’t healthy. It couldn’t be.

The kids were still playing the weird skipping game a few feet from where they were, but Mina had this bubble with Nayeon and couldn’t be bothered with getting to know the rest of the kids anymore. When Nayeon told her that the kids were mocking her earlier because nobody wanted a kid with a bad leg on their team, a bad leg that was a result of an accident months ago and whose cast was just taken off yesterday, Mina’s anger was back in full force.

“You look stupid when you’re angry.” Nayeon said, making Mina huff out an angry breath in between them. “Besides, it’s okay, they look happy playing without me. Who cares, I have you and teddy now!” Nayeon gave her a full smile, and with the oddly huge teeth right in front of her, Mina felt herself smile too.

“ _You_ look stupid.”

“Do you even remember what you were going to say? You’ve been zoning out for a good minute.” Nayeon whispered, bringing Mina out of her thoughts.

Mina gave her a glare, and a pinch in the side for good measure. “Yes, I do.” 

She shifted from Nayeon to look around the classroom. It was the start of class, and they were now officially sixth graders. The weeks of summer vacation was well spent in between their houses, with a weekend off in the next town where their mothers had some wine-tasting event and they got to play around the park. The process of moving into a new neighborhood was surprisingly easy, and it only cost Mina a teddy bear, which wasn’t really a loss on her part because she saw it every other day when they’d spend the days in Nayeon’s room.

“Good morning, my name is Myoui Mina and I just moved here during the summer break. Please be kind to me.” Mina said, giving a 90-degree bow after introducing herself. At her periphery, she recognized one of the kids that were fighting Nayeon on the day she moved in. Before she could control herself, “And please be kind to Nayeon as well. She’s a crybaby who has snot running down her face when she cries. Thank you.”


	2. Now count it in

“Nayeon.” Mina called out, but Nayeon was quick to exit their classroom once their teacher dismissed them for their morning recess. After her introduction during homeroom, the whole class laughed at her side comment on Nayeon, and Nayeon promptly ignored her for the succeeding two periods.

Nayeon! Ignoring her! She didn’t know who got the shorter stick. Mina, who literally didn’t know anybody else by their names except Nayeon, or Nayeon, who was easily the most talkative person she had met in her life. 

Did Mina say something mean? Did she hurt Nayeon’s feelings? She just didn’t want Nayeon crying, and really, the girl cried so easily. She scrambled to follow Nayeon, gripping the snack box her mother packed for her earlier.

She found Nayeon by the monkey bar, _wait, no_. She found Nayeon on the monkey bar.

The said girl was already climbing her way up, and Mina watched in mild amusement at Nayeon’s struggle to reach the higher bars with her short arms and shorter legs. When Nayeon settled herself at the middle of the monkey bar, legs swinging without care, she met Mina’s eyes.

Nayeon held the gaze just long enough for her to make a show of huffing out and crossing her arms, clearly still upset with Mina.

Oh well, today, Mina would know how difficult it would be to climb a monkey bar with only one hand because the other hand was occupied with holding the snack box. It was even harder to slide across the monkey bar, Mina learned, just to be by Nayeon’s side.

“I’m sorry.” Mina started, opening the snack box that she placed in between them.

Her mother packed two juice boxes and two sandwiches, because they had two breaks– one in the morning and one in the afternoon. If she’d go home being friends with Nayeon, then going home hungry should be worth the trade-off.

Still ignoring her, Nayeon reached for the banana milk. Took out the straw, pierced it in the juice box, and surprisingly, placed it right in front of Mina’s face. “You like banana milk more than chocolate, right?”

Mina nodded and took a sip out of the drink Nayeon held in front of her. The sandwich was the next thing to be peeled open, with Nayeon taking a bite of it first before offering it to Mina. “Let’s split this one now so we can still have another sandwich for later.”

“Are you mad at me?” Mina asked, her hands busy opening the chocolate drink for Nayeon. The girl took her time before answering, busy munching on their shared sandwich and drinking from the juice box. “Nayeonnie.”

“I was.” Nayeon said, turning her body to face Mina with a full pout. “I was mad at you because you made them laugh at me. I don’t like people laughing at me. It makes me feel stupid.”

“You’re not stupid, Nayeon. I’m sorry about homeroom.” Mina said, upset that she made her friend sad. She scanned the playground, and most of the kids out were her classmates, the very same crowd who laughed at Nayeon earlier.

Time to make amends.

Mina brought her hands together, cupping them in front of her mouth, just like how she saw it done on television. “If somebody laughs at Nayeon I’ll punch them! I mean it!!”

The kids scattered around the playground gave them weird looks, but it only lasted for a few seconds before they went back to playing with their own friends. After all, recess was coming to an end and nobody really wanted to waste play time on two girls perched on top of a monkey bar.

Nayeon threw her empty juice box at her, embarrassed at all the attention Mina drew earlier. “Shut it, Mina! You don’t even know how to throw a punch!”

Mina shrugged, because Nayeon was right. She had no idea how fistfights went. But a certain voice at the back of her mind was telling her that she’d be willing to fight anyone who made Nayeon upset.

“I don’t like you being upset.” Mina said, picking up their trash and stuffing them back inside her snack box. “And I really don’t like it when you cry because snot comes out of your nose when you cry so it’s really gross and your face gets really ugly and–” Mina had to stop her speech because Nayeon was tackling her and if she didn’t focus all her attention to holding the bars, they’d fall to the ground.

The school bell saved Mina from Nayeon’s terrible tickles, and Mina was sure she’d have a sore throat later from all the squealing she shouted earlier for Nayeon to stop. Tickles were horrible, and she should have never told Nayeon that was her weakness three sleepovers ago.

By time they were back in their classroom, Nayeon got Mina's water bottle from the water lockers and gave it to Mina. “You’re going to be my seatmate, Myoui. The first requirement to being Im Nayeon’s seatmate is to be able to talk. Now drink.”

With the evil glint in Nayeon’s eye, Mina was sure Nayeon was back to her usual mood and Mina had a feeling of regret creeping up her spine. Their homeroom teacher _did_ warn Nayeon about staying still – and staying silent – for this year and Mina thought maybe the warning was an overkill. Until now.

Turns out, the warning was fair, stemming from the previous five years Nayeon spent in the same school.

Mina already lost count of how many times different teachers scolded Nayeon– and her, by extension. Nayeon was far too restless for any teacher to handle. Always standing up and about, interrupting the lesson almost every ten minutes. And that was Nayeon in classes she thought were interesting.

When she was bored, she shifted her attention to Mina, talking about who knows what, and while Mina grew a liking to Nayeon incessantly talking over the summer break, Mina preferred to listen to class and write notes, but she couldn’t very well do all those things with Nayeon talking her ear off. Or taking Mina’s stuff to her own side of the shared table. Or poking Mina. Or drawing on Mina’s perfectly clean margins. Nayeon!

It took Mina a month before actually learning how to deal with Nayeon during class.

A tug on her uniform every time she’d spring up, about to bounce off to another part of the classroom. Sometimes a tug on her hand, because Nayeon would move too fast for Mina to keep up and Nayeon’s hand was the only thing she would be able to reach. Tugs worked, and if didn’t, Mina glaring at her would do the trick. If glares didn’t work, a quick threat on Nayeon’s ration of chocolate drink in Mina’s snack box was the last resort. Mina had no Plan D, and so far, the threat card had only been used once in the past month.

When Nayeon began talking to her during class, Mina learned how to time her hums and ums, giving Nayeon the pretense of her listening. She wasn’t, and anyway, if it was really important Nayeon was bound to repeat it during snack time. Or lunch break. Or on the way home.

The constant rearrangement of pencils and pens and erasers was something Mina could live with, and the less she stopped Nayeon, the quicker Nayeon would finish redecorating their table to what suited her at that moment.

She’d lean into Nayeon whenever she’d poke her, because Nayeon just wanted to do that– poke Mina. The poking would settle down after five pokes, three if Mina was lucky. Then Mina was guaranteed at least ten minutes of Nayeon staying still.

The clean notebook margins were a lost cause. Artist Nayeon was unstoppable, but they came to an agreement that whatever artistry Nayeon had at the tip of her pencil would stay in Mina’s margins, and not a space over it. Her notes would still be readable, although her mother would always laugh at Nayeon’s interpretation of all their teachers in Mina’s notebooks.

Nayeon asking questions, thankfully, were helpful because she’d be the one to ask questions for Mina. It benefited them both: the teacher would answer Mina’s question without Mina speaking for the whole class to hear her, and Nayeon would be able to talk louder than usual.

Well into their second month of school, their homeroom teacher even gave Mina a heartfelt thank-you, if the tears prickling in her eyes were any indication. It seemed that Mina sitting beside Nayeon was doing wonders for all of them– Nayeon, the class, and the teachers.

When Mina told Nayeon what their homeroom teacher said over recess on their place at the top of the monkey bar, Nayeon laughed it off. Said something about Mina being stuck with her for the entire year was now a guarantee, despite the custom quarterly shift in seating arrangements.

Mina only grinned behind her banana milk juice box, because being stuck to Nayeon’s side wasn’t as horrible as how the teachers made it sound like.

The thing that Mina didn’t know how to maneuver, however, was Nayeon’s tendency to get into fights. Well, not yet.

Really! Nayeon! Mina would leave the girl for a few minutes while on a quick bathroom break, or when she’d talk to their other classmates, and then somebody would be screaming at her, because ‘Nayeon’s getting in a fight! Mina, stop her!’

If she could weasel out the reason for the fights, they were mostly stupid. Completely avoidable. The color mint green looked ugly because it looked like vomit? Who cares? Nayeon, apparently, because that’s what got her into her first catfight with the mean girls from the classroom next door.

They weren’t even talking to Nayeon, Nayeon just managed to overhear it while they were walking past the group of girls. It was stupid, and Nayeon got a scratch on her arm because one girl didn’t know how to trim her nails. Absolutely stupid, and Mina stopped bringing her mint green backpack because Nayeon kept on getting more fights on the stupid color. Stupid Nayeon. The backpack was just temporary anyway, because her school bag was still in the wash after Nayeon accidentally spilled her chocolate drink on it a few days ago.

The second and third fight, Mina had no idea what it was about. Nayeon wouldn’t tell her, and the scrawny boy a grade below them wouldn’t tell Mina either. They had two fights last week. The nurse even now knew Mina’s name! She even taught Mina basic first aid, considering that Nayeon had the tendency to get odd scrapes and bruises here and there and that Mina was almost always the one bringing Nayeon to the clinic.

This time, it’d mark Nayeon’s fourth fight – well, the one Mina knew of – and Mina’s first fistfight.

Nayeon got into an argument with somebody from a classroom down the corridor, and Mina was just stepping in to get Nayeon out of the heat of things when she heard the guy screaming about how big Nayeon’s teeth were and how ugly it looked.

A comment about getting Nayeon carrots for her birthday was enough for Mina to let go of Nayeon’s hand and throw her first punch to the guy’s laughing face. He didn’t laugh after Mina’s punch, he couldn’t, because he was busy holding his nose in pain.

Mina too, was holding her hand, because nobody ever told her punching hurt! She always thought punches hurt … the one getting punched. But her knuckles were red, and her hand ached all over.

“Are you stupid?” Nayeon shouted, completely forgetting about the boy she was just fighting a few moments earlier. Nayeon took Mina’s injured hand, held it up against the corridor’s windows so she could see it clearly. Nayeon’s grip was strong, harsh enough to make Mina visibly wince in pain.

“Does it hurt? C’mon, we gotta go to the nurse.” Nayeon’s voice was croaking, and Mina heard it enough times to know that she was seconds away from crying. The worried look she directed to Mina shifted into a snarl as she looked over Mina’s shoulder. “You! I better not see you ever, or else you’ll get more than a punch to the face!”

“Nayeon. Nurse. Now.” Mina seethed through her teeth, because her hand was still aching, and a bruise was starting to form and Nayeon was still glaring the guy to death. It was enough to get Nayeon’s attention and it was the fastest Mina had seen Nayeon walk.

The nurse wasn’t surprised to see the two sixth graders. Not at all. But she was surprised when it was Mina holding up an injured hand. She had them seated on a treatment bed, got Mina an ice pack, and placed some kind of cool balm on her skin. It felt nice.

“I’m gonna have to report this and find the kid you hit as well. You’ll probably get detention.”

Mina gave out a sigh, letting herself fall back to the bed. “Nayeon, you have got to stop picking fights. I don’t like detention. I haven’t even had one before!”

“If you’ve never had one, how do you know you don’t like it?” Nayeon challenged. “And you were the one who threw a punch, not me. Who’s picking fights now, huh?”

“Bad kids get detention, dummy! It’s like, the rules.” Having nothing but the ice pack in her hands, Mina settled for a quick kick to Nayeon's thigh. The yelp Nayeon let out was satisfying to hear. “The boy was saying mean things, mean people get punched in the face.”

Nayeon rolled her eyes, something she did when she agreed with what Mina said but didn’t want to say it out loud.

Mina – 1, Nayeon – 0.

Mina grinned, making Nayeon grin back.

“Yeah, he totally deserved it.” Nayeon said, giving in to Mina’s smile. She pried the ice pack away from Mina’s good hand so she would be the one to nurse the bruises forming. “But you’re still stupid. Look at you, getting hurt. Getting detention too.”

“You know you’re getting detention as well, right?”

“Of course, I am. We’ll probably be cleaning the classroom and dusting the erasers. If we take the long way home, I can treat you to a mean ice cream stand by the park.”

“Do they sell mint ice cream?”

“Only for the best girls!”

Nayeon lied.

The old man sold mint ice cream to everybody who wanted it, and not just to the best girls. Mina would have sulked more, but the mint ice cream was pretty good and if she wouldn’t eat it fast enough, it’d melt down the cone and drip into her hands. Ick.

“Ball!!!” The shout was loud enough for Mina to snap up from her ice cream and see the incoming blur of black and white. It was still far away, and when it went nearer, it didn’t have enough momentum anymore. It slowed down to eventually giving Mina’s foot a small bump.

A girl about their age ran up to them, panting while apologizing for the intrusion. She was still in uniform as well, although her black shoes were traded for a pair of sneakers. It wasn’t their uniform, but Mina saw it often enough to know that the girl probably lived in their area.

“You play football? Neat.” Mina said, grinning as she kicked the ball to the new girl.

“We do! Wanna join? Name’s Jihyo.” Jihyo beamed at them. She grabbed the ball and motioned to where she came running from. “Usually, I play by myself but it’s always more fun when others join. Those are my classmates. We’re in sixth grade.”

The enthusiasm Jihyo had was borderline overbearing, and Mina found herself overwhelmed at the attention and energy Jihyo had. She took a step back to Nayeon, and her friend was quick to insert.

“Sounds cool, but dumdum here has an injured hand so we can’t play today. Is the offer still up… uh… next week?”

Jihyo frowned when she saw the bruise on Mina’s hand but was quick to give a nod in affirmative to Nayeon’s question. “Sure, I can do next week! I’ll be here Fridays since my parents don’t allow me to play on weekdays. Bring sneakers so your school shoes won’t get ruined.”

Mina smiled, excited at the thought of playing football. She always liked playing FIFA in her Gameboy Advance and playing the real thing should be way cooler.

“Awesome, see you Friday, Jihyo! I’m Nayeon and the loser beside me is Mina.” Nayeon said, already waving goodbye to Jihyo’s retreating figure.

When it finally registered to Mina that Nayeon managed to insult her two times in the span of the five-minute conversation with a hopefully new friend, Mina was too busy gobbling up her melting ice cream cone. She’d let it slide because Nayeon did score them a game next week. Exciting!

“Wait, do you even know how to play football?” Mina asked as soon as she swallowed the last bit of cone. Her question made Nayeon laugh, and before Nayeon could reply to her categorically, Mina already had an answer. It was a no, because why in the world would Nayeon know anything about football? She didn’t even like running.

“You like football, right? Please tell me you like it because if you don’t then we _both_ would suffer unnecessary exercise next week. Jihyo looks too nice to bail out on. I’d feel bad if we do.”

“I’ve never played it! Well, I’ve played it on my GameBoy, but not in the real world.”

“Right, your GameBoy. The weird violet box thing you push buttons on and spend the night staring at.”

Mina looked at her in disbelief. Sometimes, she really did question why she was friends with Nayeon. “Take! That! Back!” She was slapping Nayeon by the syllable, or she was trying to but Nayeon was quick to run away from her.

It ended being a game of tag until they reached Nayeon’s house, and by then, Nayeon was already complaining on how Mina made them run around and now she felt sticky with sweat, and her legs were sore from all the running.

Nayeon was complaining to anyone that would listen to her, because her legs were all hot and achy. Her whining got louder when her own mother laughed at her, choosing to get Mina a glass of milk and a plate of cookies instead.

“Will you stay for dinner, dear?”

Mina glanced at the Im’s grandfather clock in the living room, just behind Nayeon’s whining body, and realized it was nearing six in the evening. Today was a Friday, and on Fridays her dad would get off early from the hospital to have dinner with them. She needed to scram.

“Dad’s gonna be home for dinner, Mrs. Im! I can’t believe I forgot. I need to go, thanks for the cookies!!” Mina stuffed three more cookies into her mouth before dashing out of Nayeon’s house. “Bfye, lofsher!” 

When Mina gave her parents a recap on her day over herbed chicken and some three other dishes she didn’t know the name of, her parents seemed equal parts horrified and amused.

Her dad gave her a crash course on how to fight bullies, how to throw a punch and more importantly where to punch. His pep talk was done over a change in bandages, and Mina could see veins bulging out of her mother’s head as her father went on and on about kicks down below and punches up high.

Her mother went to play the bad cop, going to the extent of grounding her for the weekend. Which was fine, it wasn’t like she had plans to go out. It was Nayeon’s turn to go to her house.

Their scheduled marathon on all the fifteen episodes of Mr. Bean – which Nayeon had a director’s copy on VCD – was postponed because Mina’s mother took the morning off her Saturday so she could talk with Nayeon as well.

Mom!

When Nayeon told Mina’s mother what happened, her mother instantly softened when Nayeon said Mina threw the punch because the guy was talking bad things about Nayeon. It was something Mina forgot to mention last night over dinner, which was a mistake on her part because it seemed important. Important enough for her mother to give a big hug to Nayeon.

It didn’t make sense because Mina was the one with a bad hand and Nayeon was the one who started the fight in the first place, but then Nayeon started crying and Mina was suddenly busy trying to stop Nayeon from crying more. Mom!!

Nayeon apologized in between hiccups to Mina’s mother, promising to keep Mina out of fights. She promised that Mina wouldn’t get hurt anymore. Was that why she was crying? Stupid Nayeon. Her hand didn’t even hurt that bad anymore. Mina wanted to watch Mr. Bean already.

Mina’s mother left for work after the pizza guy arrived with a large pizza to be split by Mina and Nayeon– half three-cheese for Mina, and half Hawaiian for Nayeon. Supposedly, but they ended up sharing both flavors because Mina liked pineapples and Nayeon wanted to taste more cheese. It worked out.

“Mina, you hiding behind my back isn’t going to work.” Nayeon hissed, pulling Mina by the hand to bring her forward. “Jihyo!! It’s me, Nayeon!” Nayeon shouted, grabbing the attention of Jihyo and a couple of kids that were playing on the grass.

Mina wanted to shrink and melt away and become invisible. Too much attention. This was a bad idea; they didn’t even know the Jihyo girl!

“Mina got really excited, look! Her sneakers are brand new!” Nayeon boasted, pushing Mina in front of her and right to Jihyo’s face. Now, Mina really, really, really wanted to dissolve and disperse with the wind.

Could Nayeon keep her mouth shut? The sneakers were new, yes, and they were also totally an overkill because now Jihyo was talking about how she was eyeing the latest Nike Air model– the exact one that was hugging Mina’s toes. Mina gripped Nayeon’s hand tighter.

Jihyo was finished gushing over Mina’s sneakers and was now tugging on Mina’s hand. “Well, come on, let’s play!”

Nayeon was laughing, probably at Mina’s absolute discomfort. She even wriggled her hand out of Mina’s grasp. Mina instantly froze, her confidence in meeting new people plummeting to zero without the comfort of Nayeon’s hand in hers.

“Nayeonnie!”

“I’ll watch from the side. I don’t like running.” Nayeon said, ignoring the fact that she was already in sneakers as well.

“Please?” Mina tried, grabbing Nayeon’s hand and tugging it in the direction where Jihyo was going. Mina engaged her in a stare-off that lasted for about three seconds before Nayeon gave in.

“Fine but you’re buying me water after the game.”

Mina – 2, Nayeon – 0.

Playing football in real life was ten times better than playing it on her Gameboy Advance. It wasn’t near any FIFA-level game, they weren’t even in a soccer field and they didn’t even have a real goal. They just had Jihyo’s football and sneakers and imaginary lines. But, it was so fun!

Mina liked running, liked the fast pace of the game, and liked the feeling of dribbling the ball in her feet. She also liked listening to Nayeon’s shouts– even though they didn’t make sense most of the time. It felt exhilarating, and she was sure she was cooking up a real sweat.

The ball was hers, and she could hear Nayeon shouting that she was open, she wanted to kick the ball again, and she wanted to score their winning point. Mina passed it to her immediately. But of course, Nayeon’s shouting was heard by everybody, so the guy nearest to Nayeon was ready to steal the ball away from her.

It happened far too quickly for Mina to do anything about it. The ball went in between Nayeon’s feet, the guy aimed a little to high in his attempt to steal the ball, and then Nayeon was on the ground, holding her left knee close to her chest.

Oh no.

Oh no, no, no.

“You okay?” Mina asked, moving Nayeon’s hand away from her knee so that she could see the damage.

A mean red line was blaring at her knee, a clear mark of the front of the attacker’s shoe.

“Need a minute to cry?” Mina asked, rubbing Nayeon’s knee just how Nayeon did it a few months back.

“Yeah. Uh, maybe two?” Nayeon said, wiping the tears away from her eyes. “And maybe ice? It really hurts.”

Jihyo managed to get a chip of block ice from the old man selling ice cream nearby, and Mina wrapped it in her handkerchief to make a nice makeshift ice pack. The red line was turning blue, and Mina felt her frown grow deeper.

“Jackson! You’re gonna pay for this. Mina’s gonna beat you in next week’s match so you better show up!” Nayeon threatened when she finally stopped crying.

Mina was going to what? No, they were not going to play football anymore. Never. Nayeon got injured! What in the world was Nayeon saying?

“ _We_ are going to come back here next Friday. _You_ are going to avenge my fallen knee. _I_ am going to sit by the sidelines at cheer you on, completely safe from balls and kicks. Is that clear?”

And then they were in another stare-off, which Mina felt she was going to win but then Jihyo had to interrupt and ask if Mina wanted to finish the game that was temporarily stopped because of Nayeon’s injury. The leftover adrenaline was too much, because Mina already said yes before she could think about it, and her answer was a point for Nayeon.

Multiple points for Nayeon, because she’d use Mina’s slip up to justify that they just had to comeback every Friday so that Mina could play ball with Jihyo and Nayeon could yell at them from the sidelines.

Mina would be off happy running around and being all sweaty and muddy and Nayeon would get to sit pretty at the sidelines, enjoying attacking the opposing team’s morale and pretty much just shouting and being loud without the threat of bodily harm.

Mina – 2, Nayeon – 100. Ugh, stupid Nayeon.

Jihyo wasn’t lying when she initially said that she mostly played by herself. Although the Jackson guy – the kid who kicked Nayeon in the knee – showed up the next week, nobody but Mina and Nayeon showed up to Jihyo’s football sessions the week after that.

And so, they became a trio of sorts. Jihyo and Mina were happy to be kicking the ball back and forth between the two of them, but Nayeon got bored without a ‘real match’ to watch. Nayeon then made it her personal mission to recruit players for their weekly ball games, and Nayeon on a mission was always the best kind of Nayeon.

Nayeon even managed to rope in Sana, the oddly bubbly girl from the classroom beside theirs over a snack break where Mina got caught up talking to one of their teachers because she was trying to get out of performing in a storytelling contest.

Mina spoke clearly and had good diction with good pauses in between, yes. Mina had stage fright and absolutely no interest in talking in front of a microphone and her classmates and her classmates’ parents, also a yes.

“So, I managed to get out of the storytelling thing, but you need to perform in my place. Our class needs a representative.” Mina started, opening her snack box and preparing Nayeon’s chocolate drink for her. She needed Nayeon to say yes, after all.

“Hey, you know Sana, right? She said she’d go with us tomorrow to the park! But she won’t play though, she’ll sit beside me and cheer you guys on.” Nayeon said roughly a second after Mina started speaking, but the look on her face was trying to process what Mina said. “I’m going to what? Sounds tiring, Mina.”

“Sana the girl whose voice can be as loud as yours, Sana? Won’t the park police ban us for being too noisy?” Mina waved the chocolate juice box in front of Nayeon. “Please? You’d be an amazing storyteller!”

“There’s no such thing as park police, you dumdum. And yes, that Sana. She said she’ll bring a couple of guys too so that means you and Jihyo can play in teams.” Nayeon gave an irritated sigh before sipping from the juice box in Mina’s hands. “I know I’m amazing, but you’re just saying that, so you won’t have to speak in front of people. You’re not fooling me.”

“That’s a yes, right? You’re gonna take my spot in the storytelling contest? Mrs. Seok needs an answer by the end of recess.”

Nayeon rolled her eyes, taking the chocolate juice box out of Mina’s hands and replacing it with Mina’s banana milk, straw already in place. “Yes, I’ll do it for you. You better beat the guys Sana’s going to bring tomorrow. I kinda bragged that you were already scouted for FIFA.”

Mina’s eyes grew wide, and she shouldn’t be surprised with how Nayeon went with selling her to other people but really, FIFA? Nayeon doesn’t even know what it stands for! Mina doesn’t even know what it stands for! Nayeon!!

The next day, Jihyo and Mina beat Sana’s cousins in a race to 7. Sana’s cousins were a bunch of sore losers and went home right after the match, leaving Sana to hang around with the three.

A handful of Fridays after, the trio became four. Maybe it was bound to happen, because Mina and Jihyo had their own world when they started playing, and Sana was a perfect match to the sheer volume that was known as Im Nayeon.

Nayeon lied, _again_.

Park police totally existed, and although they didn’t ban them from playing because Nayeon and Sana were being too noisy, it wasn’t the point. They existed, and now Nayeon was going to treat Mina to her favorite mint ice cream from the old man at the center of the park. 

Nayeon was going to treat Mina. And Jihyo. And Sana. She was going to treat them all because it was her birthday and she wanted an ice cream party, so she was going to buy all of them their favorite ice cream, and she was buying in triple scoops!

Mina’s cheeks were aching both from smiling too wide and from how cold the ice cream was. When Nayeon closed her eyes to blow the candle Sana borrowed from a vendor down the park’s food area, Mina made a wish as well. Wishes.

She wished the park would put more benches so that Nayeon wouldn’t have to sit on the grass so that her skirt wouldn’t get wet when they’d go play after it rained.

She wished the pizza place would offer four-cheese pizza because Nayeon liked cheese and the three-cheese flavor didn’t seem enough.

She wished chocolate drinks didn’t have any expiry dates so Nayeon wouldn’t get a tummy ache if she’d drink one that was expired.

She wished Nayeon a happy birthday.

Those were four wishes, and Mina knew the first three were a long shot from happening but the last one was something she and Mr. and Mrs. Im had been planning for a week now. Even her own mom and dad were in on it. 

By the time they finished their ice cream, Nayeon’s parents arrived at the park. Mina gave a big thumbs up at Mr. and Mrs. Im, because their timing was perfect! Nayeon was absolutely thrilled at the sight of her parents and squealed in delight when her parents said they’d go to the McDonald’s downtown for dinner, bringing along Jihyo, Sana, and Mina.

When they arrived at the party section Mr. and Mrs. Im reserved for dinner, Nayeon saw the cake that was in the hands of Mina’s mom. Nayeon was already crying, and this time, Mina let her be because she was pretty sure Nayeon crying while playing in a pool of plastic balls was a good thing. It had to be.

By the start of their winter break, Mina and Jihyo got their parents to send them off in a mini football camp-slash-clinic where they were lumped with kids from all over the region in a camp site that was an hour-long drive from the city.

The camp lasted five days, they were taught the basics and they had early morning drills that were _really_ tiring but Mina and Jihyo finally got to play in a real football field. They weren’t the best players on the field, not by a long shot, but Mina was grinning, Jihyo was grinning, so why should it matter?

And anyway, when the camp director called out lights off by the strike of nine ‘o’clock, Mina had a lot of stories stored in her mind that she couldn’t wait to tell Nayeon.

Nayeon! Mina was already sure she’d ask her parents to drop her off at Nayeon’s when they’d pick her and Jihyo from camp. She didn’t need to ask it anymore because while their car’s engine was still running and her dad was still finishing parking, Nayeon came bursting out from the passenger seat and ran into Mina’s open arms. Or did Mina run into Nayeon’s arms?

Maybe they met halfway because when she was finally released from Nayeon’s death grip, Jihyo was already beside them, carrying Mina’s bag along with her own. Nayeon tried to give Jihyo a big hug as well, but only managed to do so for a few seconds before Jihyo squirmed out of Nayeon’s hold.

When Mina played one on one against Jihyo the following day, with Nayeon and Sana watching them intently at the sidelines– because the two felt the need to evaluate Mina and Jihyo’s improvement, Mina felt heat rush up to her face. Surely, it wasn’t because of the sun.

The feeling was still there when their classes began, and it was all sorts of new and weird. Mina couldn’t figure it out yet.

“Hey stupid, are you awake?” Mina whispered, rolling over to the lump that she assumed was Nayeon’s shoulders.

“Geffwoff!!” Oops, it was Nayeon’s face. When Mina rolled off, Nayeon brought down the covers of her blanket to shoot lasers at Mina.

“So, are you awake?” Mina asked, grinning at the fuming Nayeon.

“I’m awake _now_ , since you rolled on my face.” Nayeon spat out. Annoyed at the grin plastered on Mina’s face, Nayeon threw her blanket on Mina, covering her face entirely. Nayeon also threw her body on Mina for good measure, but it wasn’t enough to bring Mina’s mood down. “What’d you wake me up for, dumdum?”

Mina squirmed under the weight of Nayeon’s blanket and Nayeon’s body. After struggling for a minute – all in part to Nayeon not budging an inch – Mina managed to pop her head into the open air. “So, I’ve been feeling weird lately.”

“Mina, you’re always weird. Did you really wake me up to tell me something I already know?” Nayeon moved a bit, sliding down so that her head was resting on Mina’s stomach.

“It’s like, I’m extra excited for things. For school. For football. For ice cream.” Mina sat up, and now Nayeon’s head was resting on her lap. She could make out Nayeon’s face and she could see Nayeon roll her eyes before it happened.

“Those are things that you always get excited for. If you don’t start making sense, I’m kicking you out of the room and going back to sleep!”

“This is my room, stupid. And you’re not listening, I’m telling you I’m getting _extra_ excited. Like, excited, excited, you know?” Mina stressed it out with hand gestures which only served to confuse Nayeon even more.

“Is ‘excited, excited’ even a thing? I don’t care if this is your room. You need to start making sense or I’m kicking you out.”

“I think it’s a people thing! Person thing? I don’t feel it when I’m alone. It’s like my cheeks get all hot and I have this weird urge to talk a lot but also the urge to keep my mouth shut and then I just get all smiley, hey, hey, Nayeon are you listening?”

Nayeon was looking at her like she was saying something dumb, that whatever Mina was trying to figure out was really simple. Like when last night, they were answering a Sudoku puzzle and Mina was getting really frustrated because it didn’t add up and Nayeon was the one to spot the double 9s Mina placed at the center big square. That kind of dumb.

“It’s a crush! You have a crush, you dumdum. Now _you_ figure who that is while _I_ sleep!! Don’t wake me up unless the bacon is ready!!!” Nayeon got back to her side of the bed and curled up under her blankets, her back to Mina.

A crush. She heard her classmates talk about it, but she didn’t really understand what it meant. Mina made a mental note to look it up when they went back to school. Nayeon was rarely wrong, anyway.

Mina was already on Google’s fourth ‘o’ before she gave up on understanding what the internet was talking about. Every website had a different answer, and some things matched while a whole lot more was bogus. Looks like the lunch break she spent in the library was a lost cause.

Mina walked back to their classroom, stomping one foot after the other, making it as loud as possible. It wasn’t that loud because Mina had small feet and her school shoes were more of flats and the sound of Sana laughing at Nayeon was _way_ louder.

Eh? Sana?

Mina dashed back to the library, this time making a checklist, listing the things that made sense from the internet.

Mina memorized the list she made. Took a week to figure out if it made any sense at all. By Friday night, they had a scheduled sleepover at Nayeon’s house. And Mina felt she needed to make it official.

Sana was running late because she needed to have dinner at her grandparents’ house and Nayeon was in the kitchen looking for the snacks she and Mina bought a few days ago when they went with Nayeon’s parents on a grocery trip.

It left Mina alone with Jihyo, and Jihyo was the perfect choice because _obviously_ Mina wouldn’t tell Sana and Nayeon chose to sleep than help her figure out who the crush was a week ago. Ha! This’ll teach Nayeon a lesson. Hmpf.

“Ji, I have a crush!”

“Really? Tell me! Who is it?” Jihyo prodded, eyes wide open at the sudden confession from her playmate.

“She’s our friend! Really cute too! Her cheeks are adorable. Squishy, I think. She’s really loud at the sidelines when we play. It’s like her cheers give me a boost to run harder. She even offers snacks when I’m on the bench.”

“So is it Na-”

“It’s Sana.” Mina whispered; her face flushed red by the blush sporting on her cheeks. “Don’t tell anyone, okay, Ji?”

And just then, Nayeon appeared, hands holding up a tray of juice and snacks for their sleepover. In an instant, Mina was rushing to Nayeon’s side, helping Nayeon with the food all the while scolding Nayeon because Nayeon should’ve asked for help and she should’ve asked Mina specifically for help because that’s how things were always supposed to be like.

When Sana arrived later, bringing snacks as well, it was Jihyo who helped her with the placing the food on the coffee table.

The couch was big enough for the four kids to sit in, but it felt even more spacious because Mina was leaning her body against Nayeon, who was using the couch’s armrest as a makeshift pillow.

And they stayed in that position for the entire length of Lion King as well, despite Nayeon’s occasional complaints on how Mina was getting heavier with all the chips she was stuffing in her face. They looked silly, because Nayeon complaining made Mina lean _more_ into her, and by the end of the shift in Mina’s movements, Nayeon would only smile wider.

And honestly, Jihyo was paying more attention to her two friends than to the hyenas chasing a pair of lion cubs across the graveyard.

On the morning after their movie night, Jihyo woke to a bed with only Mina beside her. Sana and Nayeon must’ve woken up earlier and were down for breakfast. She poked Mina on the forehead, poking incessantly until the other girl woke up.

“Mina. Mina. Mina. Is it really her? Is it really Sana?”

Mina looked at her in confusion. Now the two of them were sporting confused looks. Jihyo, because Mina crushing on _Sana_ didn’t make sense, and Mina because she didn’t understand why Jihyo wouldn’t believe her.

“Well, yeah? Cute. Cheers really loudly. Feeds me. Who else could it be?” Mina said slowly while she was rubbing the sleep off her eyes. Mina looked around the room, unbothered by Jihyo’s silence. “Where’s Nayeon?”


	3. Gonna rope you in

On the anniversary of their school’s Foundation Day, Mina managed to get front row seats to the grand story-telling contest with Sana at her left and Nayeon’s parents at her right. Nayeon was representing the entire sixth grade, because she ranked first in their year’s pool of contestants.

Nayeon was amazing like that.

Mrs. Im told her that her parents were trying their best to arrive by the time Nayeon would start, but if they didn’t, Mina figured it’d be okay. Mrs. Im was going to record the performance anyway, and Mina spent the last two nights working on the sign that read ‘ _Go, Nayeon! Go!_ ’ with her parents.

She hoped Nayeon would like what she and her parents made; it was a surprise! 

When Mrs. Seok, their English teacher, appeared on stage, Mina was all sorts of scared and excited. Their teacher gave a rundown of the events for the morning, and Mina was reminded that the Spelling Bee was right after Nayeon’s contest and that _she_ was a contestant in the Spelling Bee.

A familiar feeling of nervousness was spreading to her arms and legs. When Mina got Nayeon to take her place in the story-telling contest, she thought she was spared from getting up on stage. Turns out, when you get the highest score in all ten spelling quizzes for the quarter, you really can’t say no to being a spelling bee contestant. Mrs. Seok was firm about this, much to Nayeon’s delight and Mina’s horror.

Mina gripped the booklet of spelling words that her mother bought for her. Should she do a last-minute review? But the first contestant was already walking up on stage, and Mina could see Nayeon’s head peeking out from behind the curtains at the side of the stage.

Their eyes automatically locked, and Mina unfolded the sign that was on her lap and Nayeon grinned so wide that Mina could make out a speck of lipstick on her teeth.

Mina stuffed the spelling booklet in her backpack, her hands now busy gripping the sign even though Nayeon was still far off from performing. Sometimes she’d catch Nayeon’s head peeking out, and every time she did, Mina would jiggle the sign in her hands making Nayeon show her lipstick-smeared teeth.

Sana caught on to what Mina was doing after the first story ended. Mina didn’t even notice that the first story was done, she was caught up in exchanging smiles with Nayeon.

When Nayeon peeked out again in the middle of the second story, Sana leaned into Mina– close enough for their cheeks to be squished together, super-duper close enough to make Nayeon surely notice Sana’s smiling face and big waves as well.

Mina could see Nayeon laughing, could hear Sana giggling beside her. Mina felt her cheeks heat up, and her toes were tingling weird. Must have been Sana’s giggles, but Mina would figure it out with Mr. Google later because the second performer was taking a bow. Nayeon was going to perform next!

Flawless. An adjective, it means without any blemishes or imperfection. Synonym: perfect. Using it in a sentence, Nayeon’s performance was flawless. Flawless.

And Mina should know it better than anyone else because this was probably the gazillionth time she heard ‘The Tortoise and the Hare’ coming out from Nayeon’s mouth. Not a single word missed, all pauses were timed correctly, and the practiced gestures were executed smoothly. Mina was so, so proud of Nayeon.

The only thing that went wrong was after Nayeon’s bow, when she took a little too long on the stage. She was still giving Mina a big wave– big enough to hit the incoming performer’s head. Stupid Nayeon.

And then Mina found herself in the clincher round, with only Felix from 6-D in the way of her getting first place in the Spelling Bee. Mina let her eyes drift from the stage, go a little behind the judges’ table, and sweep over Sana, Nayeon’s parents, her parents. She let herself be comforted by the bright eyes staring back at her. 

Despite Nayeon being known by the teachers for having a near-zero attention span, Mina found Nayeon’s eyes to be locked to hers since the contest began. From apron to spinach to refrigerator, and all the words in between, Nayeon was paying full attention. It felt–

“Unfathomable. Adjective. Means incapable of being fully explored or understood. Unfathomable.”

Unfathowhat? Mina stuck her tongue out, trying hard to remember if she read that word before.

“Unfathomable. Synonyms are incomprehensible, indecipherable. In a sentence: ‘After five years, she could still not figure out the unfathomable riddle.’ Unfathomable”.

Mina didn’t get it right. But Felix didn’t get his word right either, so they were thrown in another round.

“Acknowledgment. Noun. Defined as acceptance of the truth or existence of something. Acknowledgment.”

Mina tried to fight off a grin. Flitting her eyes back to Nayeon’s for a quick moment, she saw a big smile on Nayeon’s face. It was one of the first words they studied together, when Nayeon was sick of practicing her piece and decided that she’d help Mina with her spelling.

Mina didn’t need a sentence. She got this. She spelled it off the bat, all fourteen letters rolling off her tongue one after the other. Before the judge could confirm her spelling, Nayeon was already hollering in her seat. 

By the end of the morning’s award session, they both had gold medals hanging from their necks. Their parents made them stand in front of the school, right where the big sign that read ‘Foundation Day’ was at. Two copies of the picture were developed and framed, one got to sit nicely in Mina’s house and the other in Nayeon’s.

“Do you know what phone you’re getting?” It was the first weekend of their summer vacation, and Mina and Nayeon were at the mall with both their mothers tailing behind them.

Mina’s mother brought it up after Mina’s was accepted to the region’s summer football clinic. The clinic was a thirty-minute bus ride away from their house, and although a schedule was mailed detailing what they’d do by the hour, Mina’s mother wanted a way to contact Mina. Just in case, her mother reasoned. 

When Mina told Nayeon about it, Nayeon asked her mother if she could get a phone as well because phones came with cute cases and Nayeon liked cute things. She also wanted to have matching keychains with Mina, which Mina agreed to right away. She even helped Nayeon ask Mrs. Im to get her a new phone. Keychains!

“They look the same? What phone do you want?” Mina asked back, eyebrows meeting together while they walked by different stores.

She felt Nayeon tug her hand, and then Mina was scrambling to keep up with Nayeon’s pace. Nayeon brought them to a store that was filled with different cases and keychains and stickers and all kinds of thingamabobs.

Nayeon let go of Mina, now busy scanning the racks of keychains in front of them. Nayeon picked ten keychains, and thankfully, her mother talked some sense into her. From the ten, only two were left in her palms.

Nayeon settled for a bunny and a penguin. The bunny for Mina, the penguin for her.

“But I’m the one who likes penguins, not you, so I should get the penguin!”

“The bunny’s me, dumdum. You get the bunny so while you’re busy with your football thing, you get to remember me.”

“Why would I even need to remember you, stupid? Me and Jihyo will be busy with practice!”

And then they were at another stare off, with Mina glaring at Nayeon and Nayeon glaring back at her. The penguin keychain Nayeon found at the back of the rack was cute and Mina wanted it. The bunny was cute too, but Nayeon liked bunnies more than penguins so why was Nayeon being so stubborn?

Mina felt like she was ready to fight for the penguin, she really was. It was cute! But then she heard Nayeon sniffling, and all the fight she had vanished.

“Okay, okay. I get the bunny and you get the penguin. You don’t need to cry. Yah! Don’t cry.” It was too late, Nayeon’s tears were already rolling down.

Nayeon was _still_ crying even after her mother paid for the keychains. Still crying when they were sitting on a couch in another store while their mothers lined up to pay for their new phones.

“Nayeonnie,” Mina tried, peering Nayeon’s hands away from her face so that she could wipe the tears away with her hanky.

“You’re gonna be busy this summer.” Nayeon huffed out, and Mina gave her a big smile. Finally, Nayeon was talking again. “And you’re gonna make lots of friends and then you’re gonna play with them a lot and then you’re gonna forget about me.”

Having her hanky against Nayeon’s cheek, Mina moved her fingers to pinch Nayeon’s nose _hard_. “Nayeon no! I’m gonna go to your house every day after football and I’m gonna eat the cookies Mrs. Im promised to bake me and we’ll watch reruns of Teen Titans on Cartoon Network. Baby Looney Tunes too if I can catch the bus right away. Why would I forget about you?” Stupid Nayeon.

Swatting Mina’s hand away from her face, Nayeon dove her face into Mina’s shoulder. She was rubbing her face against Mina’s shirt and Mina should really tell Mrs. Im to buy Nayeon a set of hankies because hers was already soaked and now her shirt was gonna get wet as well.

At the back seat of the car, with Nayeon’s mom driving them to the pizza parlor her mom liked to order from, Nayeon was reciting her number for Mina to save. The bunny keychain kept moving around when she punched in the numbers. It looked funny. Already looked cuter than the penguin one dangling from Nayeon’s phone.

“You don’t know how to spell my name, do you? What in the world is AAAAAA?” Nayeon asked, peering over Mina’s now-dry shoulder.

“You know, if I can spell acknowledgment then I can spell Nayeon easily. Na-yeon. Synonym: stu-pid.” She teased, moving right away when Nayeon was about to tickle her sides. “The phone list is in alphabetical order and Is and Ns are all the way down but if I put AAAAAA, then you’d be the very first. See?”

There wasn’t anything to see, actually, because AAAAAA was the only contact in her list right now but Nayeon got the point. When Nayeon saved Mina’s number in her own phone, she named Mina ‘1’ in her contacts because numbers went in first before letters. Why didn’t Mina think of that?

“You’re such a dumdum, Mina. Stop sulking because we’re getting pizza!”

The football clinic with Jihyo was fun. Watching cartoons after on Nayeon's couch was fun, too. But eating ice cream in the park on Saturdays was the highlight of the week. It was the highlight because ice cream was always yummy and Mina got to hang out with Nayeon, Jihyo, and Sana altogether.

“Mitang, do you wanna taste? I ordered mango but I think the old man scooped in cheese.” Mitang– that was new, and Mina instantly liked the sound of it. The giggle after Sana’s offer felt like a cherry on top too. She read somewhere that nicknames were only given to important people.

“Do you wanna switch yours for my mint one, Satang?” Mina also read that it was a good sign if nicknames matched. Especially nicknames with your crush. Mitang, Satang. Must’ve sounded good because Sana giggled again.

Sana’s giggles made Mina feel nice. Always. They didn’t make her blush all the time, but maybe that wasn’t something that was supposed to happen. She wasn’t entirely sure, and besides, Sana was her first crush ever. There were still a lot of things to learn.

“I like you, Sana.” First lesson of the day– Mina shouldn’t really blurt out things like telling your crush you like them. _Now_ she felt a blush coming up her cheeks.

“I like you too, Mina.” Sana replied without skipping a beat, happy with Mina’s confession and Mina’s mint ice cream.

“Like, like you.” Mina repeated, getting braver. Sana was always comfortable to talk to, and they were still alone because Nayeon wanted French fries and Jihyo lost in rock-paper-scissors and the loser needed to go with Nayeon all the way down to where the food stalls were.

“Like, like? Like a … crush, like?” Sana asked, tilting her head a little to the side.

“Yeah, like that!” Mina said. Cheese ice cream had a weird taste. She’d be willing to bet Nayeon would like it. “Google told me so. I made a list and everything.”

And now Sana was laughing, like, really laughing and not just the cute giggles she’d often let out. She even patted Mina on the head. Three pats, Mina kept count. Why was Sana laughing? Google was reliable!

“Mitang, you don’t Google things like that. Or Yahoo it, even. Maybe Nayeon was onto something when she said you were a dumdum.” Mina pouted. If looking things up on the internet wasn’t the right way to figure out why she’d sometimes feel weird things and get ‘excited, excited’ then, what was?

And also, Sana telling her she was a dumdum felt off. Wrong, even. The pout went deeper.

“I like you, Mitang.” Sana repeated, giving Mina a peck on her cheek. Mina could feel the cold from the ice cream stick to her cheek.

“I like you too, Satang.” Mina replied, ending it with a sigh. The cheese ice cream was already melting, she needed to eat it soon. Looks like she wouldn’t get to share the flavor with Nayeon today.

“But do you like, like me?” Sana asked, and then it was suddenly confusing because Mina just said it a few minutes ago. But hearing it from Sana made her doubt herself– and her Google-made checklist.

“I’m not … sure?” It was as honest as Mina could get, and Sana beamed. The pout on Mina’s face was turning up to a smile because Sana being bubbly always got to her.

“Tell you what, when we’re really old, like say, thirty years old kinda old– if you like me by then, I’ll marry you.”

Marry? Marriage? What in the world! The shock must’ve been clear on Mina’s face because Sana was laughing again.

“By thirty, okay? Besides, I think somebody will snatch you way before we reach thirty.” Sana gave her another pat on the head, and then a small ruffle to the top of her hair. “Now eat your ice cream unless you want it to melt away.”

When Nayeon and Jihyo finally came back, they came to the sight of Sana giggling at Mina’s stories from the football clinic. It didn’t even feel like Mina talked about her crush to her crush, because nothing felt awkward.

And Mina would’ve forgotten about her talk with Sana altogether if Nayeon didn’t comment on how she had a smudge of mint on her cheek and how her hair smelled like menthol.

When the start of classes came and Nayeon found out that she and Mina weren’t classmates anymore, it was nothing short of Nayeon on a temper tantrum for the whole first day. Mina didn’t need to see it to know. She could hear Nayeon’s hissy fits because their – hers and Sana’s – classroom was right beside Nayeon's and every time Nayeon would scream, she and Sana would exchange smiles.

Their usual spot by the top of the monkey bar was traded for a table on leveled flooring because Sana kept on hitting her knees and elbows while climbing up and down and Mina and Nayeon and the nurse were worried about her bruises that didn’t seem to fade away.

And while the monkey bar had a nice view of the playground, the table Nayeon claimed to be theirs was nicer because now they got to spread out the snacks without worrying what drink would spill and what piece of chip would fall to the ground.

Mina could snack in peace. Eventually, they fell into a rhythm. Mina would put out what they’d eat from their snack boxes, and Sana would be the one to get their drinks from the vending machine. Nayeon would almost always get out of class later than they did, sometimes because the teacher was scolding her, sometimes because she was busy with her classmates.

‘Busy with my classmates’, Mina and Sana learned, was code for Nayeon terrorizing them. Well, according to Felix, who was Nayeon’s current seatmate and tattletale extraordinaire. It must’ve had some ounce of truth because Felix was actually waiting for them by their usual table when Mina and Sana got out of Math, snack boxes in one hand and their hands holding each other in the other.

Curious, they snuck to Nayeon’s classroom with Felix leading the way.

They found Nayeon giving orders left and right, all from her comfy position sitting cross-legged on the teacher’s table. Everybody else was busy doing whatever Nayeon was telling them to do.

“Mark, move the chair a little bit to the right. Yeah, uh no, I said move it a little. That’s too much, man. Move it to the left now. Jisoo, if you’d stop throwing pieces of paper to Jennie’s head then maybe Jennie wouldn’t spend snack time picking up your trash, don’t you think? C’mon, help her. The room needs to be clean. The faster this gets done the sooner we can take our snacks. Where’s Felix? He’s on blackboard duty today!”

Felix looked back to them and shot a pleading look to Mina specifically. “See? She’s horrible. I can’t go on blackboard duty, I have asthma!! Tell her to stop, Mina. Please.”

Mina argued. Nayeon wasn’t _that_ horrible. Felix was just being a big baby. Well, maybe the asthma part was true, and he really shouldn’t be the one erasing the chalk-filled board but that was beside the point. The whole class of 7-B actually went with what Nayeon was ordering around and they finished cleaning up before Mina could suck in the last drop of her banana milk.

“Room looks clean enough, alright time for snacks!!” Nayeon shouted from her spot up front. “Felix! Where did you run off to this time? You can’t keep escaping cleanin– Mina? Sana? Is snack time over?”

Nayeon jumped from the table and zoomed to where her friends were standing by. Aside from the quick glare she shot to Felix, Nayeon was all smiles when she reached Mina’s side. “What did Mama Myoui make for snacks today?” – and now she was already opening Mina’s snack box, leading the way to their table at the play area.

Her ordering her classmates around was part of some deal she made with her homeroom teacher. Nayeon breezed them through it, finding no interest in telling them the details of whatever deal she made.

The shortened – and only – version they got from Nayeon went like this: If she behaved, if their whole class behaved, then her homeroom teacher would put in a nice word with their principal and make Nayeon and Mina classmates again. Sana too, because Nayeon liked to demand things.

“But isn’t what you’re doing the work a class president does? Being in-charge of the cleaning stuff?” Sana asked, her face clearly confused on what shenanigan Nayeon had going on. “Is that even allowed? The whole classmate thing?”

Nayeon shrugged, sipping her chocolate drink dry. Her concentration was elsewhere, and she had a sour look on her face. Mina followed her eyes, and unsurprisingly, it was Felix who caught Nayeon’s attention – and the cause of the look of disdain on her face.

“Betting my strawberry Pocky that Nayeon’s their class president and Felix had something to do with it.” Mina declared, placing the unopened box of biscuits on the table. It was enough to grab Nayeon’s attention. More than enough, because Nayeon was already putting on her stupid grin and was willingly talking.

“Wrong and wrong. Felix is the class president, well the elected one, anyway. Not that he does much because I’m totally taking over and they listen to me more than they listen to him.” Nayeon gave Sana and Mina each a stick, and Mina knew that the lone stick was what she could eat from the whole box. Nayeon liked to hog strawberry-flavored biscuits. “And Mrs. Kim asked me what she needed to do to make me behave for the rest of the year.”

“We can’t change classrooms in the middle of the year. I think you got scammed, Nayeon.” Sana said, and Mina gave a nod in agreement. What was Nayeon thinking?

“Well, not _this_ year, obviously. Next year.” Oh, Nayeon was thinking that far. Mina didn’t even think what would happen after snack time. Well, she’d have English with Sana, but that wasn’t something she scheduled on her own.

The next day, Felix was waiting for Mina and Sana again by their table. Nayeon was already sitting down, hands crossed and eyeing her classmate with an unnecessary glare. Honestly, Nayeon.

The boy apologized for taking up Mina and Sana’s time yesterday. Even gave a small bow at the end and scrammed the moment Nayeon gave a small nod.

Mina flicked her fingers against Nayeon’s forehead and said that the apology was completely unnecessary. Nayeon countered that if anything was unnecessary, it was the existence of a certain Felix from 7-B. And Mina would have countered with a snarkier comeback, but Sana was already poking their faces with their juice boxes and telling them to spread love and not hate.

That was Sana-speak for them to shut up, well, according to Jihyo anyway who explained it to them last weekend. Jihyo had to dumb it down, because Mina and Nayeon were _still_ arguing on what toy they’d get for their Happy Meal. There were no toys left when it was their turn to order and Mina couldn’t remember who started it but then they were doing the blame game and Jihyo and Sana had to drag them away from the cashier because the line suddenly got longer, and their orders were already there.

Ever since they knew about Nayeon’s deal with her homeroom teacher, they started to wait for Nayeon by her classroom. It made Nayeon wrap up cleaning time faster, and the entire class of 7-B would shoot Mina and Sana grateful looks.

This morning, there was something different. Someone different.

“Satang, look. The one with bangs, do you know her?” Mina wasn’t extroverted, not at all. But she did try to know all her and Nayeon’s classmates– because who else would be the ones shouting to her that Nayeon was in another fight?

Sana hummed, probably deep in thought. A few moments later, she shook her head. Okay, if Sana didn’t know somebody, then the person has got to be new.

And if Mina was interested in the new girl when she first saw her, she was more interested now because Nayeon was tugging said new girl’s hand to where they were.

“Momo, these are my friends Mina and Sana. They’re from 7-A but we share break time together. Guys, meet Momo!” Nayeon was oddly happy. Usually, she’d need a moment to sulk about whatever annoying thing Felix did during the first few periods– “Momo just transferred! She’s my new seatmate!!”

Mina and Sana automatically laughed. Nayeon being oddly happy now had an explanation. She was finally free from being seatmates with Felix. Momo had a confused look, and Mina realized it must’ve been rude to laugh and maybe Momo thought they were laughing _at_ her.

“Nayeon hated her last seatmate. She seems to like you, though. Let’s go get snacks!” Sana was quick to realize their mistake and was quicker to loop her arms in Momo’s. Even left Nayeon and Mina behind, her attention now on poor Momo who probably felt overwhelmed with Sana being… Sana.

Sana liked Momo, liked annoying her to death and smothering her with affection. Probably liked to annoy Momo more than Mina and Nayeon because Momo would squirm and fight to get Sana off. Mina and Nayeon never had that stage and just accepted whatever onslaught of physical affection Sana had at the moment.

Nayeon liked Momo, liked that her new seatmate had cute things, had glitter pens and pencils. Liked Momo because Momo wasn’t annoying like Felix and liked her even more because she snacked during class and would always offer Nayeon half of what she was eating just so Nayeon wouldn’t say anything about it.

Mina liked Momo too. Liked Momo because she was fun to talk to, with her extensive knowledge on both Barbie and anime. Liked Momo because Momo was a nice break from Sana and Nayeon’s loudness. Liked that she now had a partner to be silent with while watching – and listening – to what Sana was talking about and what Nayeon would rant about.

They all liked Momo, and Momo seemed to like their company as well, because she agreed to hangout with them at the park when Friday came.

“Mina’s this football star and she’s been scouted by FIFA and all but that’s all top-secret.” Nayeon was doing her standard exaggerated explanation on why Mina was changing shoes before going to the park. “She practices with another FIFA recruit on Fridays, and Sana and I watch them make mistakes. Oh, we get ice cream after too.”

Mina wasn’t sure if Momo was nodding along to what Nayeon was saying because she believed her or if she was just being polite. Regardless, Mina gave a more correct overview of what they were going to do at the park. They were gonna hangout and eat ice cream. Momo could sit on the grass with Nayeon and Sana, or she could play ball with Mina and–

“Jihyo!!” Momo beamed, already waving her arms up and down to catch Jihyo’s attention. It took Jihyo a split second to ditch the football between her legs and come running up to Momo.

“So, when you said you’d transfer schools, you never said it’d be here in the city! You should’ve transferred my school.” Jihyo said, but with the way her voice got too loud, it may as well have been shouted. “But it’s okay, since you’ve met those three. They aren’t bad, not really.”

It was a prompt to make Sana and Nayeon chase Jihyo around. And while Jihyo was getting her warm-up exercises with Sana and Nayeon on her heels, Mina was content to roll her eyes at the sight.

“You know Jihyo?”

“Yeah! She was my partner in last year’s dance camp. I think she was visiting our city for the summer because her grandparents lived there. Then she got bored, and the city had this dance camp, so she joined. It was really fun! Jihyo’s really nice.”

Mina had a lot of adjectives to describe Jihyo. Nice was too broad of a term. But seeing Jihyo laugh at Nayeon’s misery because now Nayeon was sweaty and seeing her offer Sana her water bottle because Sana was thirsty, well, Mina had to agree. Jihyo was really nice.

“Wait, you dance?” Mina asked, digesting what Momo said. “Jihyo dances?”

“Me dancing was more of a stint. But Momo’s a mean dance machine! Wait, I have a song that Momo likes in my phone. Show them your moves, Mo.” Jihyo exclaimed, scrambling to get her phone from her bag.

“Er, my sister likes to dance. I liked to tag along with her during dance classes, so I began liking it as well. She’s a few years ahead of me and she’s part of the cheer team in her school now.”

Mina didn’t know the song Jihyo was playing, it was sung too fast for her mind to understand the lyrics, but the beat was clear, and Momo really knew how to dance to the beat. Amazing. All of them were clapping their hands after Momo’s mini performance.

Momo was all bows and thank-yous, which only furthered their clapping and shouting.

They never played football that afternoon. Sana wanted to learn how to dance and Jihyo was helping Momo teach her and eventually, Nayeon and Mina joined in. By the end of their ice cream session, Momo asked them if she could join for the next time and Mina knew their quartet grew to five.

After binge-watching all the six movies of Bring It On in Momo’s house on a random Saturday, Mina had half a mind to quit playing football and start learning how to dance. They all had the idea, and Momo blasting out dance pop of the 80s was furthering their intentions.

Momo’s sister entered the house at the peak of them freestyling to Hey Mickey, and Mina didn’t know how they – a couple of middle schoolers – looked like to a real cheerleader but Momo’s sister only smiled and joined in their dance party. She even invited them to watch their cheer performance that was happening in two weeks.

The cheer performance wasn’t anything fancy. Momo’s sister was going to perform for the school’s football team during the half-time. It meant they were early.

Really early, because Mina managed to see the football captain snatch a kiss from the cheerleading captain. Well, she guessed they were the captains because they had ‘captain’ embroidered to the back of their varsity jackets. High schoolers! Really!!

Mina heard Nayeon snicker beside her, and they shared a look between them. Whatever disgust Mina felt was washed away by the laugh Nayeon was letting out. Nayeon was about to say something, probably an insult to the couple down by the bench, but she was cut off the by referee’s whistle.

The football match started, and all thoughts on cheerleading Mina and Jihyo had for the past weeks were gone. It was breathtaking to watch an actual match with teams and uniforms and a crowd and cheerleaders. Cheerleaders!

Half-time came quickly and watching the cheer team perform was breathtaking in its own right. The moves were sharp and precise, energy backing every motion, and even the ruffle of the poms looked synchronized.

Mina could see it, could see Momo in a cheerleading outfit doing tumbles and turns. She could imagine Sana as well, Sana’d capture the crowd with the flick of her poms and a smile. And then she saw herself and Jihyo in jerseys running through the field playing football. And then she imagined future Nayeon too because it would be wrong to think of the future without Nayeon in it.

“What is it, dumdum?” Nayeon asked, but with the layers of blankets between them, it reached Mina as a mere mumble.

They were on Nayeon’s bed, because it was Saturday night and whatever they did on Saturdays never changed their scheduled sleepovers. Mina liked it when Jihyo or Sana or even Momo would join them, but Mina equally liked it when it was just her and Nayeon.

The buzz from watching the football game and the cheer performance was still thrumming in Mina’s veins. It was too cool. Nayeon must’ve felt her fidgeting.

“You think I’d make it to the football team when we reach high school?” Mina asked, prying away the blankets covering Nayeon’s face.

When she finally got to peel away the blankets to see the face, Mina wasn’t surprised by the scowl Nayeon was wearing.

“Mina, I tell people you’re scouted for FIFA regularly. _Of course_ I think you’d get into some high school football team.” Mina closed her eyes, preparing herself for the pillow that Nayeon would inevitably hit her with. It must have been an absurd question to ask, because Nayeon hit her two times instead of the usual one.

“If I play, will you cheer for me?”

Five hits. Okay, Nayeon was being stupid because Mina was asking a question which she didn’t know the answer to!

Grabbing the pillow from Nayeon’s grasp, Mina trapped Nayeon’s arms with the help of the offending pillow. Now, Mina was using her own body weight to keep Nayeon’s arm’s from attacking her.

“Well, will you?” Mina squinted, trying to form a glare to threaten Nayeon if her answer would be anything but a yes.

Not that she needed to threaten Nayeon to anything, because Nayeon simply rolled her eyes.

“I’ll cheer for you in every single one of your games, Myoui. I’m even cheering you on during games with Jihyo now so what makes you think I won’t cheer for you in your actual matches?” Ah, Nayeon made a strong point.

It made sense, it made Mina smile.

Nayeon smiled back, before adding “Do you want me to wear a cheerleader’s uniform and kiss you before your games as well?”

**Author's Note:**

> slow updates for slow burn. sort of. tell me your thoughts! or scream, i scream back too.
> 
> also, im itching to write jy & smc, i really am.


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